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Parisian Countryside Wedding in Cali: Logan + John

Wednesday, August, 8, 2012 at 6:00 am

Logan + John’s wedding was inspired by a vacation they took a few years ago to Paris. They wanted their day to feel like the Parisian countryside: beautiful + elegant, but very al fresco. :) The love was truly in the details that Logan, her mom, and her good friend Kristine (who was deemed the “MAWHOAT” – Most Amazing Wedding Helper of All Time) crafted together. From designing and printing the paper goods, to creating a custom monogram, crafting over a hundred and fifty lemonade bottles, collecting countless glass bottles for flowers, calligraphing the seating chart onto vintage mirrors, designing hair accessories for the flower girls, painting and assembling kids’ activity boxes for thirty little ones, and let’s not forget creating (and taste testing!) their signature cocktail – everything was a labor of love. Big congrats to Logan + John and thanks so much to the lovely Ashley Rose Photography for the photos!

Processional: Lullaby (Instrumental) by the Dixie Chicks performed by Supernova Quartet with Soloist Courtney Cash

Recessional: I’m Yours by Jason Mraz performed by Supernova Quartet

First Dance: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman

Trees were a large part of our wedding theme: beyond the obvious of having an outdoor venue surrounded with beautiful trees, we had a thumbprint tree ‘guest book’ which was drawn by a close friend of ours, a lemon tree ceremony where John and I poured soil from each of our parents’ gardens into a tiny lemon tree instead of a unity candle ceremony, and so we saw it fitting to involve trees in our favor somehow as well. Our favors were one of our favorite aspects of the wedding: each family received a small envelope with a magnet inside picturing a small child holding a fruit tree and inscribed with our wedding date. With the magnet was a card explaining that a fruit tree had been donated in each family’s honor on behalf of Food for the Poor which is an amazing organization that feeds millions of hungry people in the nations it serves.

We also put a peach, John’s and my favorite fruit as well as a prominent color in our design scheme, at each seat to hold the name cards. Although they were originally just for show, they ended up being a yummy take-home treat that our guests loved as well!

We also both love to travel so we included desserts in our menu that were a reflection of all the places John and I have been together: Coconut Tarts representing Tahiti where we’d been engaged the summer before, Crème Brulee Shot Glasses which was our favorite Parisian dessert, and Passion Fruit Custard Shot Glasses representing Thailand, which is where we went on our honeymoon!

I would have to say dancing to our last song is something I will never forget. At the risk of being cliché, John and I chose Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ to be the final song of the evening and we were so glad we did. John and I met in college through mutual friends and this song was always the last song to be played at the bars we’d go to or the fraternity formals we attended. We knew it would be a hit with our friends, as well as our parents and their friends and it definitely was. Not one person was sitting down: everyone gathered around John and I on the dance floor singing at the top of their lungs (including all four of our parents) and the amount of love we felt surrounded by was absolutely surreal.

Get your hubby-to-be involved! I realize that most men loathe the idea of picking out flowers or color schemes, but try and find things about the planning process that you can enjoy together: for us, this included things like visiting what seemed like countless venues, picking out vintage rental furniture, choosing the groomsmen outfits, and of course, doing tastings for our dessert table! After all, the wedding really isn’t just about the bride (as much as we would sometimes like to think it is!). Lastly, remember to give a little – even if it isn’t exactly what you might want. If you don’t absolutely loathe an idea that someone else involved is really invested in, try and find a way to include it if you can. My mom really wanted to do a slideshow for the father-daughter dance and I initially hated the idea but I eventually agreed and I’m so glad I did because it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the reception and many of our guests even commented on how much they enjoyed it.

photography: Ashley Rose Photography // venue: Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo, California // event coordination + design: Melissa Pearson of Bash, Please // vintage furniture: Archive Vintage Rentals // floral design: Rolling Hills Flower Mart // wedding dress: Paloma Blanca Style 4202 // shoes: Kate Spade // bridesmaid dresses: Monique Lhullier // hair + makeup: Deniele of Dry Bar + Jessica of Blushington // groom suit: Burberry // cinematography: Iris & Light // invitations: Pleats and Thank You // paper goods: Friend of the Bride, Kristine Ho // catering: Command Performance Catering // cake: Sweet & Saucy Shop // ceremony music: Quartet from Supernova Quartet and Soloist Courtney Cash // reception DJ: Elegant Event Entertainment //

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DIY: Ombre Cork Heart

Tuesday, August, 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

When I first met Chriselle (from our fun Down the Aisle with Chriselle series!) she shared that her fiancé and she both love wine. Since I love seeing a couple’s interests being incorporated into design elements, I began brainstorming fun ideas that would incorporate their love of wine into their wedding day and came up with this cute idea. Perfect to place on your guest table, drink table or dessert table. And one of the raddest things about this DIY is you can keep it after the wedding and hang in your home – a fun reminder from your wedding and all the glasses (or bottles :) of wine you two enjoyed together!

Here’s how we made it:

Materials:
• wood board (ours is 24″x 24″ purchased from Home Depot – and it was already precut!)
• acrylic paint – you’ll need your accent color (red for us), white, and the background color (gray for us)
• vinyl decals (ours are 4″ tall letters)
• corks – we used around 100 corks for ours (tip – ask friends and family to save corks for you!)
• paint tray with space for at least 6 colors
• foam brushes
• spray paint (not shown above, but needed for the colors of the letters)
• glue gun

Step One: Evenly divide your corks into as many groups as colors of paint you’ll be using. This will help to ensure that you have a nice, even gradient on your final product. For us, we used 6 shades of pink, so we grouped all our corks into 6 equal groups.

Step Two: Mix your accent color (red for us) with white to create 6 shades ranging from deep and dark to quite light. We kept mixing until we got 6 shades of pink that we loved.

Step Three: With the foam brush, paint the top of the corks, but be sure to not get any paint on the sides of the corks. Since you already created groups in Step 1, you should have about the same number corks for each color.

Leave your corks alone as they dry and move on to Step 4.

Step Four: While the corks are drying, it’s time to spray paint your board with the color that you’ve selected for your letters. You’ll want to give the board two coats of paint to make sure your letters really pop against the background color. We chose to use a metallic copper color for our letters!

Important: Please remember that the first coat of paint on the board is for your letters, so that’s the color they will appear. We don’t want anyone to get confused and apply the background color first.

Step Five: Once your letter color is completely dry, place the letters on the board. We picked the phrase “Forever is Today” but you could use any phrase you’d like or even your names and wedding date – ”Jen + Jason 12.12.12.” We used a t-square to make sure our words were straight and centered. Once they are, stick the vinyl stickers to the board.

Step Six: Now you are going to paint over the entire board – yep, right over the letters. This will be your background color. We used gray, since we wanted a good color for our heart to pop against.

Step Seven: Once the background paint is dry comes the fun part. Peel off each letter to reveal the color you spray painted – so for us, the pretty gold metallic color!

Step Eight: Rather than using a new piece of paper, we used an old paper bag from the grocery store, drew a heart and cut it out.

Tip: Before tracing you’re heart to the board, you want to perform a dry run and place all of your corks in advance to make sure you have enough to cover the entire heart. If you don’t have enough, either drink more wine :) or trim the size of your heart to reduce the number of corks you’ll need to fill it.

Once your heart is the right size for the number of corks you have, trace it with a pencil. Be sure to center the hear, as you’ll use the outline to place your corks.

Just to make sure we liked the look, we did a second dry run and placed our corks on the board inside our traced heart. Once we decided we liked the look, we glued them all down using a glue gun.

Once you’ve glued them all….enjoy a coffee or remaining glass of wine while they dry. And that’s it! Once corks have dried in place, you’re set. :)

Such a fun + pretty detail to add for your wedding – or even your home! We have this one hanging in our kitchen right now :)

Thanks to Katherine Elizabeth for the photos for the DIY!

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Down the Aisle with Chriselle: DIY Projects

Tuesday, August, 7, 2012 at 10:15 am

Chriselle‘s wedding is just a few weeks away and today on Down the Aisle with Chriselle she is sharing a fun + easy DIY project she created for her wedding with her florist, Shawna Yamamoto. Let’s take a look at what fun details they are creating for her garden reception!

Pretty fun + easy idea for a DIY, right? Well, we also created a fun DIY inspired by Chriselle and her fiancé! Stay tuned we are sharing it in a few.

And next week (the second to last episode!) we are sharing styling tips for wedding guests! So hopefully we will answer some of those questions like what to wear to certain types of weddings. Are there any types of weddings you’d love to see us address (beach, backyard, barn, etc)? Let me know in the comments and I’ll try to address them in the post next week!